Archive for the ‘Italian’ Tag

Orecchiette is one of the most popular shapes of pasta from Southern Italy, especially the Puglia region. Traditionally paired with Greens (di rapa) or Peas, it tastes delicious with a combination of Basil Pesto & Sundried Tomatoes.

One of the tastiest sauces I have made in a long time, one of the fun things about this is how adding walnuts at the time of sauteing adds so much crush & fragrant flavour!

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A Ziti Pasta creation with a simple tomato sauce, yet with a tangy twist. The flavours of mint, sage & basil combine wonderfully with Mushrooms & Tomatoes to create this delicious offering garnished with hearty parmesan and some sweetly sour raw mango. Scrambled Eggs in an adapted avatar give a chunky base to the pasta which is of course pleasingly delicious!

In the pan, add the roughly pureed fresh tomatoes and ketchup. Keep the flame on high and stir till a boil comes. Turn the flame on medium and add Oregano, Salt, ¼ tsp Pepper, Sugar and ½ tsp Chilli Powder in the sauce and stir well.

Cover the pan with a lid and keep the sauce on simmer for around 5 minutes until it thickens; Stir in Cheddar Cheese & Scrambeled Eggs and let them mix well in the sauce for a couple of minutes.

Mix the Pasta in the Sauce and take it off flame in a serving bowl. Garnish with a crumble of raw mango, parmesan and italian seasoning.

Drop a sprig of fresh mint for flourish and Enjoy the Ultimate Experience 🙂

-: Tips :-

Always saute mushrooms in butter as it lets it retain its natural flavour and enhance it. Olive oil or other oils might destroy the distinctive woody/foresty flavour of mushrooms.

To easily peel off tomatoes and boil them quickly, first heat water to boiling levels. Take tomatoes and slit them in a cross hair fashion for about 1-2 cms from the bottom and add to the boiling water. Take out after about 12-15 secs and wash with cold water. Peel off, quarter & puree accordingly.

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Pasta dishes are one of the most amenable to bring around a riot of colors. This one being no exception, is an adaptation of the very popular Arrabiata Sauce with a core of babycorns. The layers of creamy Linguine and fiery red arrabiata topped with golden babycorns look extremely delicious! I have used Linguine in this recipe which is a much thinner form of Fettuccine and looks like flattish Spaghetti. This gives it a much more navigable base to the chunky sauce than Spaghetti which seems to be much more suited for pure sauce based dishes like marinara or napolitana.

Grill in an oven at 180°C for 2 minutes, drop a sprig of fresh coriander for flourish and Enjoy the Ultimate Experience 🙂

-: Tips :-

To easily peel off tomatoes and boil them quickly, first heat water to boiling levels. Take tomatoes and slit them in a cross hair fashion for about 1-2 cms from the bottom and add to the boiling water. Take out after about 12-15 secs and wash with cold water. Peel off, quarter & puree accordingly.

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Creamy Spinach Sauces from the town of Florence are always a delicious and delightful combo. Having typically used florentine with fusilli and other short shapes to enjoy mixed gravy pastas, I wanted to create something different for Spaghetti. Inspired from the lovely texture of Methi Chaman (an Indian Kashmiri recipe) I came up with this new Tomatina sauce with crunches of tomatoes, olives & capsicum. Topped on Spaghetti, it was really an amazing heavenly experience accentuated by the aromatic and flavourful Pecorino & Parmesan cheeses I sourced on my recent trip to Scotland from Valvona-Crolla in Edinburgh.

Add chopped tomato and capsicum and continue stir frying for a couple of minutes.

Pour in the spinach puree in the pan, mix well and bring to boil. Turn to simmer and stir regularly.

Add Tomato Ketchup, Tabasco Sauce, Oregano, Salt, Pepper, Chilli Powder, Paprika, Spring Onion greens, Olives and Capers in the sauce and stir well. Keep the sauce on simmer until it thickens and then take it out.

Take the spaghetti & corn out of the water, drain and arrange in a serving dish. Sprinkle the spaghetti with Italian Seasoning and pour the sauce over it.

Garnish with remaining Parmesan and Enjoy the Ultimate Experience 🙂

-: Tips :-

The tomato should be cold to get a solid bite after stir frying, otherwise it might mash out and lose the texture of the sauce.

Do not substitute the cheeses (for puree) with any soft or processed variety as it will melt and make the sauce gooey. You can use any other hard cheese if you prefer some different flavours.

As the spaghetti is to be kept in the hot salted water until sauce is ready to serve, make sure to take it out of heat sometime before it gets Al Dentè to prevent overcooking the pasta.

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After a late night Friday party last month, I was feeling quite pepped up to treat some of my friends to a sumptuous 4 course wholly Italian meal (more so as it had been a long time since I had prepared some original Italian creations). So next day, Saturday morning, I sat down thinking about what to make which would appear beautiful and come out as delectable combinations.

I was sure to include the ‘Crispy Tomato Bruschetta’ which I had developed over the traditional recipes some time ago as a soul satisfying comfort food! I was not in a mood to completely experiment the main course and decided to prepare my best ‘Penne with Tomato Basil Sauce’ which I tweaked in midcourse with some fancy additions 🙂

An Italian drink to pair with Pasta can be no better than chilled Sangria and that was my first choice which I developed into ‘Mango & Grape Juice Sangria’ made with the full bodied fruity Cabernet Shiraz Wine. Dessert was a conundrum as I had no means to bake and thus I settled on an experimented piece ‘Almond Biscotti & Hot Coffee Ice Cream’ (I had read somewhere that Almond Biscotti taste great with Vanilla) which came out quite nice!

Thus we spent a lazy afternoon in an air conditioned room enjoying Italian Cuisine, reminiscing IIM-A days and jibing over times to come which made the day memorable 🙂

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Biscotti are delicious twice baked crunchy Italian biscuits which I sourced from Karachi Bakery in Hyderbad, famous for it delectable biscuits and confectioneries. Looking to make a dessert for a party without any means of baking, brought me to this idea of using Almond Biscotti with Vanilla Ice Cream (which I had read somewhere that it will be a good combination). A new touch to this cold summer dessert was pairing up with aromatic Colarado Hot Coffee. Sounds weird but the eventual soft creamy taste of Ice Cream with crunchy biscuits and warm coffee was a surprising delight!

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One of the most famous antipasti from Italian Cuisine comes in the form of Bruschetta. Traditionally thickly sliced bread loaves are roasted, rubbed with Garlic, smeared with Extra Virgin Olive Oil and topped with any interesting combination of ingredients typically Tomato & Basil. Incidently, apart from being a scrumptious appetizer, it also serves as an amazing comfort food, which I found for myself when I had nothing else to make for breakfast when I was sick and it gave me a soul satisfying delight!

This is my very own recipe for Bruschetta which I have developed after much tweaks to the traditional one and it typically manages to overshadow most of the other main course dishes you can accompany it with. This is undoubtedly a party favorite and a must try for a hearty experience!!